Walden Strikes for WinStar

Elliott Walden | Michele MacDonald

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Standing as tall as some NBA guards, Elliott Walden tends to be noticeable in a crowd, but the WinStar Farm president really grabbed the spotlight when he became the first American ever to purchase a horse at Japan's premier Thoroughbred auction, the Japan Racing Horse Association select sale.

Assisted by bloodstock agents John McCormack and Tom Ryan, Walden successfully bid on three colts, haltering two by Empire Maker (Unbridled) as well as a son of successful Japanese sire Heart's Cry (Jpn) (Sunday Silence) out of American Grade 1 winner Hilda's Passion (Canadian Frontier).

“I'm honored to be the first American buyer here,” Walden said after concluding his purchases on July 13 during the yearling session of the two-day sale that is capped by a session of foals on July 14.

The pace of the Japanese sale, which features enthusiastic bidding by competitive buyers who turned out in stronger than ever numbers, impressed Walden, as did the quality of horses offered.

“It's exciting to see people want horses so much,” Walden noted. “The top of the market seems to sell very well, and there seems to be a nice middle market, too.”

Topping WinStar's purchases was the Heart's Cry colt, who was offered as hip 87 by Katsumi Yoshida's Northern Farm and who came close to hitting the ¥100 million mark when he was sold to WinStar for ¥94 million ($758,065).

“He was really a special horse,” Walden said. “I became enamored with him at the barn. He looks like he has a tremendous amount of class and bone, and he's out of an American Grade 1 winner.”

The bay colt is the second foal of Hilda's Passion, who won the G1 Ballerina S. at Saratoga Race Course for Starlight Racing partners and added three Grade 2 victories, one Grade 3 win and a placing in the G1 Humana Distaff to her record, earning $739,493. Yoshida paid $1.225 million for Hilda's Passion at the 2011 Fasig-Tipton November sale, and she produced her first foal for him in 2013, a colt by Deep Impact (Jpn) named Sieg Kaiser (Jpn).

Yoshida said after the colt was sold that he had been “my favorite,” based on his physical attributes, of all the 80 yearlings catalogued for the sale by Northern Farm.

Walden has been intrigued for several years with the idea of bringing some of the blood of Sunday Silence, whose offspring have been successful around the world, back to the United States. Heart's Cry, who had international ability and won the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic in 2006 in a romp over the likes of top European runners Ouija Board (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}) and Alexander Goldrun (Ire) (Gold Away {Ire}), is one of the legendary sire's best sons at stud, having sired the world's highest rated runner of 2014, Just a Way (Jpn).

“Now we're doing it,” Walden declared of the move to bring a Sunday Silence-line horse to the U.S.

The Empire Maker colts represent, of course, a well known commodity, particularly for WinStar, which stands the stallion's two best sons: Pioneerof the Nile, sire of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, and fellow Grade 1 winner Bodemeister, whose first foals are yearlings and which were warmly received as foals at 2014 sales.

Hip 106, a bay consigned by Chiyoda Farm and boasting a pedigree of international renown, is out of Reve de Fille (Storm Cat), a daughter of European champion filly Bosra Sham (Woodman) and granddaughter of blue hen Korveya (Riverman).

“He's a beautiful horse,” Walden said after buying the colt for ¥39 million ($314,517). “I feel like he will run on the dirt–he looks like a dirt type. And he comes from a really strong family; he's out of a Storm Cat mare and we feel good about that.”

Bodemeister also is out of a Storm Cat mare.

The other Empire Maker colt bought by WinStar, hip 44, a bay out of Japanese Group 2 winner Jolly Dance (Jpn) (Dance in the Dark {Jpn}), is a grandson of American-raced mare Peterhof's Patea (Peterhof), who won 16 races, including 14 stakes, while also placing in three graded events. WinStar acquired the colt for ¥10 million ($80,646) from Nishikioka Farm.

“He's a good waking horse and he's very attractive,” Walden said.

Nishikioka owner Mutsuaki Doi was pleased with the sale. “I'm very happy to see my horse is regarded highly by this very famous American farm,” he said.

WinStar plans to ship the three Japanese-bred colts back to Kentucky but a decision has not been made on who will train them for racing, Walden said.

 

 

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